Milram readies for Paris-Tours

Tomorrow the German Milram team will look for sprint success in the French Classic Paris-Tours. The team is under considerable pressure to find a sponsor to take over for Milram, and will rest their hopes on Gerald Ciolek for the sprint finish.

His Director Sportif Christian Henn knows the importance of a good result. "We hope to close out the French season with a good finish," said Henn. "We will put everything on Gerald Ciolek in the expected sprint finish."

In addition to Ciolek, starting in the 103rd edition of the Fall Classic there will be Germans Thomas Fothen, Artur Gajek and Dominik Roels. Henn will also look to Dutch riders Servais Knaven, Wim Stroetinga and Niki Terprstra. The German-Dutch squad will be strengthened by Slovakian Martin Velits.

Ex-Milram rider Erik Zabel won the "Sprinters Classic" in 1994, 2003, and 2005, although it was while riding for the German T-Moblie team. Bringing the win back the Germany like they did in 2007 with Italian Alessandro Petacchi would be a welcome result for the struggling team, and with their mix of riders taking part, they could find breakaway success with riders like Knaven or Terpstra.